


His Sniper's Sister

by GrinningValkyrie



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Crimes & Criminals, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-08
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-03 19:55:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 21,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1755685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrinningValkyrie/pseuds/GrinningValkyrie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sabrina is Sebastian Moran's 19-year-old sister, and her knowledge of his job is limited. After he goes missing, she learns more about his career when she starts working for his boss Jim Moriarty. As she begins working in close quarters with Moriarty, romantic feelings develop between the two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Meeting

It is said that hell has no fury like a woman scorned. As a scorned woman, Sabrina Moran could confirm that. It had seemed like everything was going well with Christopher, the guy she had a massive crush on. They had flirted every day at play rehearsal after university, going as far as hand-holding. Despite multiple multiplesigns which seemed to prove his affections, Sabrina's feelings proved to be unrequited. He asked out another girl, and suddenly it seemed like Sabrina didn't exist at all; he wouldn't even look at her in the corridors.

 

"Good," her brother Sebastian said. "Any guy who screws you over should be afraid for his life, killer." 

 

Sabrina had always found it a bit ironic that Seb's pet name for her was "killer" given his current job. After coming home from Afghanistan, the Morans' parents died in a car wreck, leaving the two orphaned. Without a steady source of income, Seb had had to take some rather unsavory jobs. He'd never told her all the details, but she knew that he had a steady job working for some guy named who's name she could not remember (Murray, maybe?), and that her brother's past as a sniper played a key role in it. She had never met the guy, but sometimes she "overheard" Seb's whispered conversations with men who came to the house while she should have been sleeping. Whatever kind of business the boss man was running, it wasn't something to go blabbing about at her school, hence all the secrecy.

 

"I'm done with guys, Seb. I think I'll buy a dog instead."

 

"You're only gonna live with a dog for the rest of your life?"

 

"Maybe two dogs." 

 

He chuckled and shook his head, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

 

"Throw me a brewski." She spoke mockingly in her best American accent.

 

"You're only 19, killer. Give it a few years and then I'll consider it, yeah?"

 

She stuck out her tongue playfully at him and relaxed into the couch as her thoughts drifted back to classes. She always tried to avoid Chris at all costs now, thinking that ignoring his presence on Earth was a good alternative to having her heart ripped out every time she looked at him. As luck would have it though, the next day was the beginning of rehearsals for the next play. And as luck would have it, she and Chris were the female and male leads. Luck never seemed to be on her side. Except, of course, in the fact that Chris' new girlfriend hadn't made the play. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

 

"I have to run an errand. You wanna come with me and we'll go get some dinner after? My treat." Sebastian offered, causing her to scoff.

 

"You say that like me paying would have been an option when we both know I'm broke."

 

"So that's a yes?"

 

"Obviously."

 

Half an hour later they were in the car on their way to whatever errand Sebastian had to do.

"Wait here, I'll be right out." Her brother said as they pulled up in the parking lot of... A toy store?

 

"I know my birthday is coming up and all, but I outgrew stuffed animals when I turned 12." She teased, causing him to muss her hair before climbing out of the vehicle and throwing the keys to her to lock the doors.

 

For the first fifteen minutes he was inside, she waited paciently in the car with the radio on. After he had been in thirty minutes, she was mildly irritated. Finally, after an hour, a not-so-mildly-irritated Sabrina walked into the toy store.

 

She searched through the store for a while, but couldn't find her brother anywhere. She called his mobile, but he didn't answer it.

 

"Great. Just great." She muttered as the voicemail picked up yet again. After leaving another message, she plopped down on a nearby bench and huffed.

 

"Everything alright?" A voice said behind her in an Irish brogue. Sabrina turned around and faced the man who spoke.

 

"Yeah, I just can't find my brother." She replied. He smiled sympathetically at her.

 

"Have you checked the Lego section? There seems to be a small army of boys running around, he's probably there."

 

She giggled at his reply. "Older brother, actually."

 

"Well in that case I'd check the dress-up section. Do you mind?" He asked, pointing at an empty seat on the bench.

 

"By all means. I could use some company. I've been waiting for him for about an hour."

 

"And why would he leave a pretty girl like you all by yourself?" He asked flirtatiously, causing her to blush. She was still upset over Chris, but she had to admit that the man was attractive. "What's your brother doing in a toy store, anyway?"

 

"He said he had business of some sort." 

 

"Business in a toy store? He in the teddy bear mafia?"

 

She shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not really sure what his job is."

 

"Would you like to find out?"

 

The question startled her. "I- I suppose so. I've never really given it that much thought."

 

The man took out a small piece of paper and wrote something on it, and then handed it to her.

 

"If you wanna give it some thought, be here Saturday at 7. Don't be late, Brina."

 

She stared at the stranger with a worried expression. "How do you know who we are?"

 

He gave her an intimidating smirk. "If I were you, darling, I wouldn't tell big brother about our conversation, capische?"

 

"Who are you?" She asked, gritting her teeth.

 

"Call me Jim."


	2. Poison Ice Cream

Jim stood up and smoothed out his suit jacket, and then turned to face Sabrina.

 

"Now, remember, kitten-" he said in a condescending tone, and pantomimed zipping and locking his mouth, and then throwing away the "key". With a wink and an impish grin, he was gone.

 

Shaken, she decided that maybe waiting for Sebastian in the store wasn't her best idea yet, so she made her way back outside. There, her brother was leaning against the car door. He had his phone to his ear and he was looking around. When he spotted her walking over to him, he hung up the mobile.

 

"Where the hell have you been? I called you five times and you didn't answer!" He exclaimed angrily.

 

She went to take out her phone, only to find that it was no longer in her pocket.

 

"I can't find my cell, I probably left it at home. And you're one to talk! You were in there for an hour! 'I have to run a quick errand.' Yeah, right!"

 

Sebastian sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look, it took a bit longer than expected-"

 

"Understatement of the year." She snorted.

 

"-but you should have known better than to come in."

 

She gaped at his and let out a mirthless laugh. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

 

He frowned at her. "Don't yell at me, Sabrina. I just meant that... Look, I understand that I don't let on that much about my line of work, but I know that you know that there's a certain element of danger to it. Something could have happened to me, and then if you'd gone snooping, something could have happened to you."

 

She shuddered at the prospect. "I didn't know it pertained to your job, but that's beside the point. Did you honestly expect me to not come in after you, Seb? After all, no one beats up my brother but me." She finished with a smile to lighten the mood.

 

He looked at her with mock condescension. "Real cute, killer. I'm shaking in my boots."

 

She punched his arm and got in to the car.

 

"Ready to go home?" He asked.

 

"No way! You still owe me dinner!"

 

During dinner she decided that she had imagined the day' s occurrences . She forgot about the pain with Chris, and she even forgot about Jim-

 

-or at least, she did until she went into her room after dinner, and found her phone with a note next to it.

 

"Had a lovely chat. Thought you might be missing this. Hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of adding myself in. Look under 'M'.     -Jim"

 

When she looked under the "M" section of her phone, she finally remembered her brother's boss's name.

 

"Moriarty." She whispered, staring strangely at the phone. With a sudden panic, it finally got through to her that someone had gotten into her encrypted phone, broken into her house without leaving any signs of entry, and had been in her room. The last part was, for her, the most nerve-wracking. What if he broke in again and tried to kill her or assault her?

 

She bit her lip, staring at the window. Did she really wanna take a chance? Deciding that she did not, she went down the hallway and opened the closet door. She grabbed the necessary supplies and turned around, where Seb was staring at her incredulously.

 

"You trying to build a birdhouse in there?" He asked, gesturing towards the hammer and nails she held in her arms.

 

"No, I knocked one of my pictures off the wall and the nails fell out. I can't find them anywhere." Those improv lessons from her drama class were really paying off. 

 

He rolled his eyes. "Just try not to step on the nails, okay? I don't feel like going to the hospital this late at night."

 

She made a face. "I'll try not to. No promises though." She heard him snort as she walked back to her room. After closing her door, she went to work on the window. Four nails should be enough she thought to herself. Once she was certain that the window was secure, she finally let herself rest.

 

That morning, she woke up to a breeze across her face. With horror, she saw that the window was open, With the nails lined up in a neat little row. A second note was taped to the window. Shaking, she made her way over and gently plucked the note from the pane.

 

Aren't you just adorable? Did you actually think I'd come through the window? Suits are expensive, kitten- not that money is a concern of mine, mind you. Speaking of expenses, I got you a present. Wear it today- I'll know if you don't. I'll have a car sent for you once your rehearsal is over. See you tonight. -Jim

 

She crumpled the note and threw it hard at the wall. It was about time she got up for classes anyway. After getting dressed, she sat down at her vanity table to do her makeup. Right in the middle of the fixture was a small case, which made her gasp upon opening. Inside, resting against the black velvet, was a silver necklace. A pendant hung in the middle, but she could not pinpoint the fiery red stone. She'd never seen a gem like it. What would be the harm in wearing it? It matched the red blouse she had on, and she didn't doubt that Jim would be watching to make sure she wore it.

 

The thought made her shudder. He could into her house without breaking in, and he had means of tracking her. What was she to do? She couldn't bring this up to Sebastian, she might put him in danger too. Who else could she tell? Her friends would call the police, and then Jim would try to get his revenge. Besides, she didn't want to worry her friends. For now, it seemed like she would just have to put up with Jim by herself.

 

That day at university passed slower than normal. She was anxious about the address that Jim had given her, and about going to see whatever it was he wanted her to see. 

 

She couldn't focus during rehearsal, and at one point completely lost track of where they were.

 

"Sabrina, you need to focus! I understand that the show isn't for two months, but this is precious rehearsal time." The director scolded. Mr. Reza was a kind person, but a strict director, and Sabrina didn't want to get on his bad side. She apologized quickly and flipped to the correct page.

 

When rehearsal had ended and she went to put away her script, Chris caught up with her. She cringed almost unnoticeably. Even seeing his face hurt her.

 

"Is everything okay?" He asked, eyebrows furrowed with concern. God, why did he have to look at her like that?

 

"Fine!" She chirped, flashing a smile. The acting experience came in handy when she needed to lie.

 

"You sure? You seem kind of distracted today. And we haven't talked in a while, I thought you might be mad at me."

 

I should get mad at him. I should tell him how he led me on and broke my heart. I should stand up for myself.

 

"I'm not mad. I'm sorry we haven't talked in a while, I've just had a lot on my plate, you know?" The response was automatic. She could never shout at him, no matter how much he hurt her. 

 

"It's a good thing you aren't mad at me. How could I survive university without you, Moran?" He said with a grin, tugging a strand of her hair. Couldn't he just act indifferent? Would it be so hard for him to not hug her and tease her and flirt and act like he cared?

 

She, of course, allowed the flirtatious behavior without blushing or showing how much he meant to her. As an actor, she learned to conceal her emotions. Put on a mask and don't let the world see how vulnerable you are. 

 

"You couldn't. Luckily, I am a kind and benevolent friend, not to mention completely gorgeous too." Joke like everything is normal. Pretend you're okay.

 

"Out of the two of us, I'm clearly more beautiful. Look at the facial symmetry." He moved his head in circles, making her laugh.

 

"In your dreams, Chrissy." She taunted, and he stuck out his tongue at her.

 

"You're obviously jealous of my immense attractiveness."

 

"Yeah," she said sarcastically as she gathered her books. "That's definitely it."

 

"So I was planning on going for ice cream, wanna come with?"

 

"I'm not sure, it would be an awfully good opportunity for you to try and poison me."

 

"What if I pay?"

 

"Well then I might not mind being poisoned as much," She acquiesced as they walked outside. There, leaning up against a beautiful cream colored Bentley, was Jim. He gave a little wave and she froze up.  Chris hadn't seen him yet.

 

"Actually, I think that poisoning might have to wait. I promised Seb that I'd be home early to help him make dinner. He'd burn down the house without me." She lied suavely, rolling her eyes. 

 

"C'mon, Moran. Your brother can't wait an hour?"

 

She glanced over to Jim, who Chris still hadn't noticed. Jim tapped his watch mockingly and gave her a knowing look.

 

"Apparently not. See you tomorrow?" She watched him walk away and immediately felt guilty... That is, until she remembered the pain he'd caused her. She almost snorted when he walked right past Jim, who was pretending to be on his phone. Jim smirked as she walked over.

 

"Had to ditch a date with your darling?" He asked sarcastically. She glared at him.

 

"Just so you know, I can fight. Seb taught me. So if you try anything on me, I will rip off your kneecaps and force feed them to you."

 

"Cute. I would say something akin to 'Kitten has claws.", but I've never been one for cliches. And I'll only put my hands on you when you're begging me to." He said with a wink as he opened the passenger side door for her. She snorted.

 

"That will never  happen."

 

He only gave her a knowing smirk. "We'll see, kitten."


	3. The Discovery

"Why'd you give me the address if you were gonna drive me yourself?"

 

"Just in case you took a long time to get out of rehearsal. Patience isn't one of my virtues."

 

"I didn't think guys like you had virtues."

 

"There are no guys like me, kitten." He flashed his teeth in a menacing grin.

 

On the drive there, Sabrina repeatedly assured him that she could kill him, and her brother could kill him, and that she had Mafia connections that could kill him. He found this to be quite adorable, though he didn't tell her that. As much fun as it'd be to rile her up, it was a teensy bit harder to scare people when they were angry. 

 

"Yeah, that's all well and good. But kitten?" He interrupted her ramble.

 

"What?" She asked disdainfully. She was a bit disappointed that he had interrupted her monologue of threats.

 

He stopped the car and turned to her, leaning in as though to kiss her. "I could have a bullet through your brain before you saw the gun." He made a little gun with his hand and put the "nose" up against her temple.

 

"Bang!" He whispered, causing the girl to shudder. It was unfair, really. She had a beautiful monologue (admittedly, it was inspired by mainly by movie threats) that didn't make him blink, but he said one sentence and she freaked out. 

 

Although, wasn't it normal to freak out? She knew her brother was involved with some shady people, even hitmen and murderers. And one of them showed up to her, knowing where she lived and went ot school. And now she was alone with him. In a car that he was driving.

 

How stupid was she?! Hadn't she ever paid attention to stories where girls got into cars with strange men and turned up in the gutter the next day?! This was it, then. She'd screwed up and this was how she died. He probably didn't even know Sebastian, he was probably just some stalker. That's why he knew so much about her. He lied and she had believed him like a naive little... bunny or something (she couldn't think of something naive).

 

"If you're done with your inner turmoil, kitten, we can go inside." He remarked casually. Huffing, she exited the Bentley, albeit a bit reluctantly when she saw that they were standing in front of some big old factory.

 

"Bit of a cliché spot to kill me in, don't you think?" She asked, trying to cover her nerves and making him roll his eyes.

 

"Kitten, if I was planning on killing you, I'd make sure that you knew it was going to happen."

 

"Why?" Even a conversation with a snake helped to calm the condemned mouse.

 

He turned to her with a sadistic grin and stalked over to her.

 

"Fear is half the fun. You'd know it was going to happen, but when? Keeping you suspended in the air. Like a roller coaster. The intimidation game that is the rise, just waiting for the fall. And that way when the fall does happen, you're not caught off guard. It's worse if you know that something is ahead." 

 

By this point there was about four centimeters of space between them, and she was pressed up against the car. A blush rose to her cheeks. She was loathe to admit it, but she was growing increasingly aroused by the proximity. He stared intensely at her for a few moments before his demeanor changed completely.

 

"Time to see what's behind curtain number one, kitten!" He exclaimed gleefully, grabbing her wrist and hauling her to the building.

 

She opened her mouth to quip back at him, but he covered it with his free hand. She was debating whether or not to lick it to get him off when he spoke.

 

"Now, you have to promise daddy something. Brother dearest doesn't know you're here, so you have to be quiet, yeah?" He removed his hand so she could answer.

 

"As long as you promise never to refer to yourself as daddy again. It's creepy as hell."

 

He chuckle as they walked into the darkened building. His hand was still on her wrist, but he was no longer dragging her so much as he was leading her.

 

The warehouse seemed very generic. Boxes and barrels and shelves filled the roomed in a sort of organized chaos. Stairs lead up to a walkway which spanned the indoor perimeter of the building. He lead her up the stairs and around the walkway to the front side of the structure. Here they were above the entrance, but would not be able to be seen by someone entering. Jim kicked a few boxes around as a makeshift shield.

 

"Stay behind the boxes. If he looks up here, that's all he'll see. Now if you don't mind, I have a meeting with darling Sebby." He strutted to and down the stairs, and she had to stifle a giggle. It became harder when he started moving the boxes and barrels around to create a throne that he then plopped down upon, probably for dramatic effect when Seb entered. His eyes widened like he had just remembered something.

 

"By the way, the necklace looks stunning. Not something many can pull off." He stage-whispered as she told her eyes. He cocked his head and turned back to her. Pointing at the door with one hand, he held a finger to his lips in a shushing motion before posing on his "throne", legs sent over one of the "arms". He began examining his nails as Sebastian walked in.

 

"You're a bit late, Sebastian. I thought our agreed time was 7:20? You know how I hate lateness."

 

"Sorry, sir. My sister hasn't come home from university yet and I was waiting for her."

 

"Rehearsal ran late, she should be home a little after we're done here." He drawled. Honestly, Sabrina had no idea how her brother worked for this guy. She'd watched him go from a playful little kitten trying to seem important to a dangerous jungle cat, menacing and ready to strike. The guy had just said that he knew that her rehearsal had run late and Sebastian had just accepted it without blinking an eye.here

 

"Not to be rude, sir, but what exactly is the purpose of this meeting?" Her brother asked. Straightforward, that's how Seb was. He liked getting to the point quickly.

 

A smirk danced across Moriarty's lips. "Blunt as always, Sebastian. I have a new assignment for you."

 

"Who's the assignment?"

 

'Who?' Sabrina wondered.

 

Jim must've known that this would peak her interest because his eyes flashed up to where she was hiding as Sebastian asked his question.

 

"Ronald Adair," He replied, throwing a manilla folder to his employee. "Whom I believe you used to play cards with?"

 

"I did, until he accused me of cheating and the other guys banned me from the game."

 

"Pity to hear."

 

"Well, he was right," Sebastian answered as he picked up the folder. "So why's it that I'm putting a bullet through his head?"

 

The younger Moran's breath caught. She knew Seb's business was shady to say the least, but killing people? She hadn't expected the ex-Colonel to return to killing after he left the service. Her head was spinning and she wanted to run, but she forced herself to listen on.

 

"The short version is I assisted him with a felony, and instead of giving me what was due he used the money on a one-way ticket to America. All his information- hotel, license plate, underwear brand- is in mother's little helper," He pointed at the folder. "Just pop on over to the good old U.S. of A, take him out, and then dump the body and return home. Your flight leaves tomorrow at noon."

 

"Sir, I don't think I'll be able to do this."

 

"Everyone gets a little strange fright. Just imagine the crowd in their coffins, or something like that."

 

"No it's not about... stage fright. I gotta watch after my sister, I can't disappear to a different continent without her asking questions. Can't you get someone else to do it?"

 

Moriarty's eyes flashed dangerously as he swung his legs to the ground, leaning forward.

 

"Forgive me, Sebastian, it seems as though my hearing is going. Must be from all the loud rock music. It sounded like you said you wouldn't do it."

 

Sebastian, to his credit, did not flinch or step back or even blink at his boss' threatening behavior.

 

"You heard right boss. Look, I try to be your go-to guy, but I got a family to worry about. She'd go looking for an explanation, and that could get her killed."

 

Jim smirked. "I'm sure she won't go investigating. In fact, I'm fairly certain that she already knows where and why you need to go."

 

"What?" Sebastian looked at Jim like he was crazy (which he seemingly was). He then followed his boss' gaze up to the catwalk where Sabrina was hiding.

 

"You can come out, kitten." The Irish man called out with an amused voice.

 

Sheepishly, she stood straight up.

 

"Hi, Seb."


	4. Guard Dogs

The glare Sebastian gave her could've burned through steel. "Why are you here?!" He hissed menacingly. The vein that was throbbing in his forehead looked as though it were about to burst.

 

Sabrina gulped. "Um..." While she scrambled to find an explanation, Jim answered for her.

 

"Kitten over here got a bit curious, and we all know how well that works out for cats. I'm surprised that you hadn't already told her about your line of work." His face was a mocking look of surprise as he said this, and Sebastian whipped around to face him.

 

"It was to protect her, which you knew!" He bellowed at his boss. Jim didn't even blink, but instead smirked.

 

"To protect her in case someday one of your MANY enemies came to the house looking for you, only to find dear, darling, baby sister home alone without any knowledge of why they're torturing her? Really, Sebastian, I thought you'd at least want to prepare her."

 

"None of them know where I live, and it's not your place to tell her about my life, you-"

 

Jim cut him off. "You know, Sebastian, you're talking about places, yet I think you're forgetting YOURS." Moriarty's smirk had left his face, replaced by predatory look.

 

"Sir," Sebastian spoke through gritted teeth. "In the future I would appreciate it if you didn't inform her of things that do not involve her."

 

"I'm sure you would. However, this involves her, does it not? You leaving the continent?"

 

"It does now that you've brought her into this." Sebastian replied stonily. He sighed. "I want a guard detail for her until I'm back."

 

"I can spare Napier and Barnes. They'll guard the house, play chaffeur, et cetera."

 

"Look, I don't appreciate the whole misogynistic "let's protect the fragile woman" thing and believe it or not, I, a legal adult, can take care of myself. Nothing scary comes for me while Seb's here, nothing scary will come for me while he's gone. I know how to shoot a gun, I know how to fight. I'm not a little china doll." She finally spoke up.

 

"It's not like that." Seb protested.

 

"Then what's it like? You said it yourself, none of your enemies know where you live. So why do I need a guard detail?"

 

"I don't THINK any of them know where I live," he amended, making her groan. "I just wanna make sure you're safe. If something happens, I want someone who can get you out of there. They can drive you places so you won't have to walk."

 

"I can drive." She replied coolly.

 

"I know, but what if your car breaks down in a bad part of town in the middle of the night?"

 

She laughed sarcastically. "When am I EVER in a bad part of town, especially in the middle of the night?"

 

"Sabrina, I need you to put up with this for me. Please."

 

"I don't even know these guys, Seb. They could be perverts or something. What if they try something with me?"

 

At that, Sebastian smiled. "Killer, Barnes and Napier are in a relationship. With each other."

 

"Oh. Well then I suppose they won't try something with me." 

 

"So then will you be okay with it?" Her brother asked, eyes pleading silently 

 

She sighed. "Bring me back some souvenirs."

 

"Good!" Jim jumped up, startling Sabrina, who had forgotten that he was there. "Try to get to the airport early tomorrow. Don't wanna miss your flight because you took too long going through security."

 

The next day, Sabrina watched the plane her brother was on fly away until it became a speck in the sky. She turned and made her way to the entrance, where her guards were waiting with a sign that said "S. Moran".

 

"Cute." She commented, pointing at the sign. The shorter one grinned at her.

 

"Thanks." He was oblivious to her sarcasm, and she almost felt kind of bad. The other man had caught on to her sass, though, and snorted.

 

"I'm Napier, that's Barnes. The car's this way." He turned and walked away, not bothering to check if the other two were following. Barnes followed behind her to the car.

 

"What, no handcuffs?" She mocked.

 

"Not unless that's what you're into." Napier commented, making her smile a bit. Barnes, on the other hand, chastised his partner.

 

"Don't make her uncomfortable."

 

"I'm not, it's a joke! Jeez, lighten up." Napier turned around. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

 

"Nope, just amusing me."

 

"See?" He looked at Barnes, who in turn stuck out his tongue at the other man. They bantered back and forth on the way to the car, and she began to loosen up around the two. For trained muscle, they were kinda... Adorable.

 

Finally, they got to the vehicle, and her eyebrows rose in surprise. "THIS is the car?" She asked incredulously.

 

Napier eyed her. "Yep. There a problem?"

 

"Not at all." She replied, sitting down in the passengers seat as Napier climbed into the driver's side.

 

"I should've called shotgun." Barnes muttered, getting into the back seat.

 

The black Porsche purred to life like a jungle cat, and she turned to Napier.

 

"You gotta let me drive it." She pleaded with him. He sighed.

 

"You can drive back to your house, since I don't know how to get there from here anyway."

 

"Yes!" She got out and walked to the driver's side. As she got in, she noticed that Barnes was now in the passenger's seat. Napier knocked on his window and Barnes rolled it down.

 

"Shotgun." He sang, causing Napier to shake his head and get into the back grumpily. Sabrina briefly wondered how it was possible that these guys were criminals. Realizing that it was better that she had friendly guards, she put the key into the ignition.

 

"Hang on, boys." She commanded playfully. She shifted the car into drive and pressed down on the gas pedal. The car jerked into action, gaining speed as she pulled into the straight street. Honestly, she had no idea where they were but she figured she could remember which roads Moriarty had driven on from the school, and once she got to the school she'd know exactly how to get home. She rolled down all the windows and opened the sun roof. The wind move through the car in a deafening roar, but that didn't bother her. She drove better when she wasn't distracted by small talk or the radio. Soon enough, they passed the school and arrived at the house quickly after that. Sabrina shut off the car and turned to her companions. 

 

"Soooo, are you gonna want these back?" She asked, jingling the keys. Napier raised a brow and grabbed them from her. 

 

"Sorry, Miss. From here on out, I'm the driver, or Barnes is if you feel like risking your neck." That earned him a slap on the shoulder from his partner. 

 

"You're one to talk! Whenever we go out you go so far over the speed limit that the tires start melting from the friction!"

 

"That happened once, and you didn't seem too concerned about my driving in Glasgow last winter." Napier's eyes flickered mischievously and Barnes turned bright pink. Sabrina pretended to become immensely interested in her cuticles. Once the two seemed to be done with their little "moment", she spoke up again.

 

"So do you guys need to walk me all the way up there or...?" She trailed off. Honestly, she would prefer they didn't. Yes, Sebastian wanted to keep her safe, but the walk from the parking lot to the elevators to the flat was generally uneventful. One time she saw a bird fly into a car window, but that was it.

 

"Well we're supposed to be providing round-the-clock surveillance outside your door, so yes. And we have to check your flat." Barnes replied. Sabrina gaped. 

 

"Is that really necessary?" She asked dryly.

 

"Boss' orders." He replied. She knew better than to test Moriarty, and she didn't want Seb to worry. Of course, this didn't make her any happier about it.

 

"Swell. I'm apartment 8E." She stated, motioning the two to follow her. Like obedient dogs, they followed close behind. She walked into the building as though there weren't two strange men following her. Through the revolving door, greet Jerry the receptionist (much nicer than Pam, who seemed to have some vendetta against the entire world), across the marble floor to the steel elevators, in and up with smooth jazz as background music, until they reached apartment 8E. Sabrina waited patiently outside with Barnes while Napier checked the suite. 

 

"All clear." Napier announced when he had finished, ushering the girl in. She padded over to the kitchen to make herself some lunch when she noticed that the two men were still standing awkwardly at the door.

 

"Er, you guys can come in if you want. I'm just making some macaroni, if you want some too," She invited uncomfortably. Might as well make friends with the guard dogs. As they sat down on the couch she continued. "Also the remote is on the coffee table."

 

Barnes grabbed it with lightning speed, giving a crooked grin to Napier, who only raised a brow and put his arm around the other man. After witnessing this, Sabrina felt an uncomfortable pit in her stomach, thinking of Christopher. The pain had not diminished. Thinking about him and his girlfriend (who was unfortunately beautiful) caused her chest to tighten uncomfortably, and gave her an enormous sense of unimportance. It was stupid, really, to get this upset over a boy who she probably would never see again after college, but she felt betrayed. The worst part wasn't that he didn't care about her, it was that he spent so much time pretending that he did. She silently berated herself for being stupid enough to fall for him and didn't hear what Barnes said to her.

 

"Sorry, what'd you say?" She asked sheepishly after she realizing that he was speaking to her.

 

"Do you have any beer?"

 

She brought the bottles over to the two men, and as she was about to open one for herself Napier took it away.

 

"Hey!" She complained.

 

"A bit early, huh?"

 

"You two are drinking."

 

"I meant a bit early in life to start."

 

"Yeah, well, I feel like forgetting something right now." She muttered, getting up to go grab a water. Before she could, Napier grabbed her wrist and handed the bottle back to her.

 

"Just the one," He ordered sternly, but a smile contrasted the strictness of his words. "Alcoholism isn't something anyone needs to deal with." Barnes squeezed Napier's hand in a supoortive way. Not wanting to press the subject, Sabrina took a swig of her beer, focusing on the television. The news were on, with some story about a gas fire that burnt down a restaurant. News anchor Marissa Reilly reported live from the scene, makeup caked on her face and botox injected cheeks not allowing much facial movement. They all watched in silence until the phone rang and Sabrina got up to answer it.

 

"Hi, kitten!" The recognizable accent drifted through the phone. Suppressing a groan, she spoke.

 

"What do you need?"

 

He ignored her. "How's it going with your babysitters?" She looked over to the pair, who were cuddling on the couch, and then walked into her bedroom and shut the door to give them privacy.

 

"Just peachy. Thanks for calling. Bye!" She prepared to end the call.

 

"DO NOT hang up on me," Came his voice, harder than she had ever heard it. She froze and put the phone back up to her ear. "Didn't your mummy ever teach you proper manners, dear?"

 

She ground her teeth. The sadistic bastard must have known what happened to her parents, and just wanted to rub salt into the wound. "She taught me not to talk to strangers. I didn't listen and look where that got me."

 

Chuckling he replied. "Well if you didn't talk to strangers, how did she expect you to make new friends?"

 

"I have enough friends." She muttered.

 

"Such as darling Christopher?" His gleefully mad voice struck like a snake's fangs into her. "Oh, but you didn't think I knew about him, did you? How you fell for his lies and sweet nothings? And they really were nothings, weren't they? He made you feel special, and then he chose someone else over you. You never mattered to him." His words grew more and more excited as he inflicted more pain.

 

To her credit, Sabrina held back the stream of curses which were ready to flow from her mouth. "That's not news to me. Why did you call?"

 

"I missed the sound of your dulcet tones."

 

"Moriarty..." She ground out, growing tired of this game.

 

"Fine, fine if you want to be boring, I'll get to the point. We're going to meet Monday, after your classes."

 

"Oh, are we? That's great, but I have rehearsal, and homework, and basically anything that will prevent us from meeting."

 

"Oh you won't have rehearsal, your director will have food poisoning. Seems that some chefs just don't know how to use fresh ingredients."

 

"You're going to poison my director?!"

 

"You'll probably get the email about it tomorrow night, Monday morning at latest. As for any homework, you can put it off for a bit. We have business to discuss."

 

"Why can't we just discuss it now? Or tomorrow? Why do you have to poison my teacher, we have the rest of the weekend!"

 

"Darling, I know how desperate you are to see me, but I do have a life outside of you. An organized one, which requires scheduled appointments. Speaking of which, I need to go. Some lowlife needs help staying out of jail, the moron just set a restaurant on fire and there was a witness." He complained dully, as though this was a normal event. Sabrina suddenly remembered the newscast she'd been watching.

 

"What are you, some sort of defense attorney?"

 

"More like a consulting criminal." He corrected.

 

"What the hell does that even mean?"

 

"I'll tell you Monday if you behave. Look for the Bentley." With that, he hung up.

 

Super.


	5. I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream

Angrily, she kicked her desk, which caused her laptop to fall off and shatter the screen because that was the type of day she was having. She let out an angry shout and collapsed face first on the bed. Just then, Napier and Barnes burst in the room, guns out and ready to shoot.

 

"What happened?! Are you alright?!" Napier shouted, looking deadly.

 

She sat up to talk. By this point, tears of frustration were streaming down her face. Wiping them away quickly, she cleared her throat. "Yeah, sorry I, um, I'm just not really having a good day."

 

"Who was on the phone?" Barnes asked, who seemed to be slightly calmer but still alert.

 

"Your boss," She spat out the words like they were poison. The partners exchanged a glance. "He's going to pick me up on Monday from school because he wants to talk. And he's poisoning my director so I won't have rehearsal. And I broke my laptop."

 

Neither man looked like he knew what to say, so she rushed to assure them that she was fine. "It's cool, really. I'm just a bit stressed, it's not a big deal. Luckily I already printed out the essay that was on my laptop, so it's all good. I'm just gonna take a nap now." Her excuse was pitiful at best, pathetic at worst, but they pretended to go with it.

 

"We'll wake you up for dinner later . Try to rest." Barnes said sympathetically, closing the door. And then she was alone with her thoughts. Although she didn't want to admit it, she felt abandoned. True, Seb didn't have a choice in leaving, but it seemed like everyone left. Her parents were gone (though not by choice), Christopher ditched her, and now her brother was gone, even if only for a short time. Or at least she HOPED for a short period of time. She suddenly realized that she had no clue when he was coming back, or even where he was in America. Everything was on a need-to-know basis, and apparently she needed to know very little. 

 

Honestly, she expected Moriarty to tell her more, if only to annoy Sebastian; but now, he was withholding information to annoy HER, or to keep up suspense or something ridiculous like that. Irritatingly enough, it was working. She had many friends, but Napier explained that she wouldn't be allowed to hang out with them outside of school, for her "safety" of course, without Moriarty's express permission; furthermore, there was very little time before or after class to converse. Moriarty was the only person aside from her guards that she would be able to spend time with outside of the house, and that didn't exactly thrill her.

 

Putting that thought out of her mind, Sabrina took Barnes' advice and attempted sleep. Although it was the early afternoon, sleep came within a few minutes. Her last thought was that she would have to stare into those dark eyes once again on Monday

 

~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~

 

Barnes never actually woke her up that night, and she slept into Sunday. She woke up at seven with sleep dust in her eyes and hunger pains in her stomach. The first issue was taken care of on the way to the kitchen as she blearily rubbed her eyes. She began to make eggs when she noticed Napier passed out on her couch. It had never occurred to her that the men would be guarding in shifts, much less sleeping in her home. At least he hadn't tried anything with her while she slept. Not that he would, being that women weren't his thing. Turning the stove on low, she came over to the couch and peeked at him. His normally hardened face was softened by sleep, and the probable killer appeared as innocent as a newborn. He was curled up into a ball, and she silently vowed to never tell him that she saw that.

 

When the eggs were ready, she put some on a plate and brought them out to Barnes, who grinned gratefully. He began shoveling them down his throat immediately.

 

"Thanks, I was starving!" The man interjected between forkfuls, causing Sabrina to scrunch her nose in disgust.

 

"Me too, because SOMEONE didn't wake me for dinner." She accused playfully.

 

"You looked so peaceful sleeping," He admitted bashfully, quickly smirking. "Besides, if I had woke you up you would've tried to kill me."

 

"One more crack like that and I won't make you anymore eggs." She threatened, going back inside to get some breakfast for herself. It surprised her, how quickly she became familiar with the guard dogs. It hadn't even been a day and she was already joking around with and making breakfast for them. It was hard to dislike the two, though. They were like hyperactive, buff toddlers.

 

Barnes had followed her in, still eating. A small smile came upon his face when he saw his sleeping partner. Sabrina subtlely watched him kneel quietly next to the couch and softly stroke Napier's hair. The sleeping man didn't wake, but sighed out the word "Cas". She figured that this was probably Barnes' name, but didn't ask. It might've embarrassed him that she'd seen their moment.

 

To warn him that she was coming over, she loudly scooped the eggs. By the time she turned around, he was sitting at the end of Napier's feet on the couch, although a hand rested on his beau's ankles. Sabrina came over and sat at the arm chair adjacent to the television and turned on the BBC. A rerun of Doctor Who was playing, and she kept the volume on low as she watched Christopher Eccleston run from creepy children in gas masks.

 

Napier woke up quickly when he smelled the eggs. Blinking, his eyes rested upon Barnes. "Did I die?" He asked with a confused expression.

 

"No...?" 

 

"Then how'd I wake up in Heaven with an angel?" He asked, grinning mischievously.

 

"Oh, shut up." Barnes blushed, looking pleased. Napier winked at the man, giving thanks when Sabrina brought him some eggs. Apparently, he has the same bad habit of talking whilst chewing that his partner had.

 

"So what's the plan for today?" He inquired. Sabrina thought that he was talking to Barnes until she realized that both men were looking at her. 

 

"Well, uh, I'm not sure. I'll probably do some laundry and I have some homework to finish up." She stuttered.

 

"You don't want to go out anywhere?" Barnes asked curiously.

 

"I thought I wasn't allowed to go out." 

 

"You can go out, just not with anyone besides us. Unless, of course, Mr. Moriarty gives you permission." Barnes clarified for her, and she tried not to be visibly affected by the name.

 

The men ended up doing the laundry while Sabrina did her homework. By the time she had finished everything, it was early evening. They all went out for dinner and before she knew it, she was setting her alarm and going to bed.

 

~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~

 

As soon as she awoke, Sabrina got the email saying that her director wouldn't be in that day, and that rehearsal was cancelled. This also meant that she'd have a substitute for drama, the last course of the day. The subs were normally nice, but had no clue when it came to acting. The period always ended up turning into a study hall, which was fine by the students.

 

The nerves made time fly, until it was time for drama class. Christopher had saved her seat in the part of the auditorium they always sat in. 

 

"Hey, Sab!" He greeted cheerfully as she dropped her bag. The sub hadn't come in yet. "You still owe me a poisoning, you know."

 

"We might have to postpone that for a bit."

 

"Really?"

 

"Yeah, turns out I enjoy living a bit too much for that. However I may be free at some point in the next few weeks. Probably. It depends."

 

"On what?"

 

"My brother's on a business trip and doesn't want me going anywhere except school. I don't know how long he'll be gone."

 

"Aw, c'mon. How's he gonna know?" The cocky smirk and twinkle in his eye had her nearly convinced. If she was only under Seb's orders, she would go in a heartbeat; but she shuddered to think of the consequences if she disobeyed Jim.

 

"Two of my cousins are staying with me this week, they'll know."

 

"You should've just told them we still had rehearsal today."

 

"Well I didn't know that you would want to reschedule for today!" She complained. He grinned and poked her nose, making her slightly freeze.

 

"Alright. Just remember that you owe me."

 

"How about I'll buy when we go?"

 

"Deal." They continued to chat. As soon as the bell rang, the substitute walked across the stage. Sabrina's jaw dropped so far she could practically hear it hit the ground.

 

Jim Moriarty held a clipboard in his arm and a pen in his free hand. She took in his outfit. Long black slacks, a light blue button down with the sleeves rolled up, a black tie, and to top it off fake glasses. His normally slicked back hair now was curly and ruffled. Sabrina's eyes glared, almost burning holes into the side of his head. Slowly, his eyes grazed over the room, checking off the attendance list. Their eyes met and he winked at her, causing her to look away.

 

Apparently his appearance caused a few of the other girls to go into a tizzy, some of them giggling and others batting their eyelashes. The rest of the girls seemed mildly disinterested in their sub, or at least weren't advertising their attraction. 

 

Linda Thompson, a particularly annoying brunette with no acting skills gushed about him out loud. "Did you see that? He just winked at me!" The looks she got ranged from envy to disbelief to annoyance to, once again, disinterest.

 

He held up a hand to quiet the class before he spoke. "As you can see, Mr. Reza isn't here today. My name's Richard Brook. I'm not exactly qualified to be teaching theatre, so you can all use this as a free period, so long as you don't leave the room. If you need to leave for some reason, I'll be backstage doing some work. You can come up and I'll write you a pass."

 

"Who does this guy think he is?" Chris leaned in whispering into her ear. She tried not to shiver from the closeness. "And what's with the accent? 'Top o' the morning to ya!'" He mocked. A short giggle escaped her mouth and Moriarty's eyes found hers.

 

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class, Miss-" he pretended to check the clipboard for her name. "Moran?"

 

"Nothing I'd like to share, no." She replied quickly, eyes wide as though it were mad to think that she'd even been talking. He tried not to smirk at her air of innocence as he kept pushing.

 

"Well you were laughing for some reason, and I love jokes. Perhaps your boyfriend would like to tell me?" He returned her innocent look, but he somehow managed to make it look jeering.

 

'Asshole.' She thought, gritting her teeth. He just loved to pick at her pain, didn't he?

 

"We're not- I mean, he's not- we don't-" she stuttered.

 

"Oh, terribly sorry." He said, not sounding that way at all.

 

At least at that point he changed the subject, apparently getting bored with pressing to know what she said. Sabrina snuck a glance at Chris, who was staring at the seat ahead of him in embarrassment. His phone was out, and he was texting his girlfriend, now completely ignoring Sabrina. It wasn't her fault that "Richard Brook" had to say that, so why was Chris being a jerk to her? She tried not to feel hurt or offended, and failed completely.

 

The rest of the period was spent on her homework and then watching Linda start flirting with Moriarty, who didn't reciprocate but also didn't stop her. Sabrina snorted. If Linda knew who he really was, she might not be so keen on getting him into bed. Not soon enough, the bell rang and everyone picked up their bags to head home for the day. Well, almost everyone . As Sabrina was getting her things together, Moriarty's brogue rang out.

 

"Miss Moran, will you come here please? I'd like to have a word with you." Christopher looked up from his phone for a moment when he heard her name, before walking away without saying goodbye.

 

Once everyone had left, she walked up to the stage and gave a low, disgusted chuckle. "You're really something, you know that?"

 

"I've gotten that once or twice, yeah." He had a dark twinkle in his eye.

 

"You knew what he did to me." She accused.

 

"All of it." He affirmed.

 

"And you still had to go there?"

 

"Kitten, do you even need me to answer that?" She took a deep breath to keep from screaming at him. "We both know what he did to you, how he broke your little heart. If it were me, I wouldn't keep hanging around him, drooling at his feet."

 

"If it were you," she replied hotly. "You'd have him killed!"

 

He shrugged. "Probably. Because I have self respect."

 

"I- I have self respect!"

 

"Do you? Because it doesn't seem that way." He jumped off the stage, landing neatly next to her. "He hurt you bad, and you weren't even mad. He made you cry, and you did nothing. Didn't yell, didn't get mad, didn't even stop talking to him. And why? Because you care more about his feelings than you do about your own. It's pitiful, really."

 

"I'm not good at hurting people, no matter how bad they are to me. Not if they're important to me." She said quietly, not wanting him to see how much his words stung.

 

"It's a cute façade, your brave face, but you don't need to lie to me. I can see right through you," With each step, he prowled closer and closer until he was almost pushing her against the stage. "I can teach you, you know." He said, suddenly stepping away. She was still dazed from their closeness.

 

"What?"

 

"To hurt people. That's what I came to talk to you about. I know I was supposed to pick you up, but I can just be sooooo impatient!"

 

"Again I ask, what?"

 

"Let's go get some ice cream!" He suggested excitedly. She was completely bewildered now as he grabbed her hand and pulled her outside. He didn't let go of her hand as they walked to the Bentley and even if she asked, he wouldn't loosen his grip. Maybe he thought she'd try to run away and then he would have to get ice cream by himself.

 

In a gentlemanly fashion, he held the passenger side door open for her. She thought about climbing in the back just to spite him, but decided that that would have been too childish; he was condescending enough without her resorting to pouting and throwing a temper tantrum to fuel his fire. 

 

"I'm surprised that 'Christina' didn't remember me from the other day, but then again if he had, he might get suspicious about seeing me and we wouldn't want that."

 

"Well OF COURSE not." She affirmed mockingly. Nodding, he ignored the quip. The drive there was oddly quiet compared to the shouting match that she expected. It bothered her slightly. At least if they were talking, she'd have some idea of what to expect; but the stony expression on his face revealed nothing.

 

Once they were at the ice cream parlor, he motioned for her to sit. "I'll just get you the usual, kitten." She didn't bother asking how he knew what ice cream she liked, and instead opted to get her favorite table, which she realized too late was a bit secluded for her taste. The pastel swirls on the floor dizzied her as she kept her head down, hoping not to be recognized.

 

After only a few minutes of waiting, Jim brought over her cone. They sat in silence for a while, only eating. Finally, Jim spoke.

 

"So I'm sure you're chomping at the bit to find out why I wanted to meet up with you today."

 

"I assume it wasn't just so you could embarass me in class and buy me ice cream."

 

"No," he chuckled. "Although, it was fun to watch you squirm. I have a proposition for you."

 

"Of what nature?"

 

"Business," He licked his lips and leaned in. "I want you to work for me."


	6. Job Offer

Immediately, Sabrina began choking on the bite of ice cream of in her mouth. The kind, considerate person that he was, Moriarty only watched with a cocked brow until it melted and she stopped coughing.

 

"You want me to WHAT?"

 

"Calm down, kitten. Don't want to cause a scene." He warned. Suddenly, she became aware of the multiple people looking their way.

 

"Why do you think I'd work for you?" She inquired in a calmer voice.

 

"You don't have a job. According to your brother, you're a good fighter and a better marksman. I need someone like that. More specifically, I need a pretty girl who can fight like an ugly man."

 

"Insinuating that women aren't good fighters?" He snorted at the question.

 

"I think you know what I mean."

 

"Look, I'm not like Sebastian. I can't kill people, Moriarty."

 

"It's not as hard as you think." He assured.

 

"Says the psychopath." 

 

Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his forehead. "I suppose that you could just incapacitate and capture them, and I'll either send someone with you to do the deed or you can bring them to me."

 

She shook her head. "I just don't understand why you want me specifically. I'm sure that there are many, much more qualified and bloodthirsty women who you could hire."

 

"I don't want bloodthirsty. I get enough of that, it's BORING. You have potential, kitten. You're skilled, you're intelligent, and I can stand being around without wanting to pop your eyeballs out of your head and hang them on a keychain. Most of the time I can, anyway. Sabrina," he breathed out her name, taking her hands into his. "I NEED you. Please say yes." He looked up at her with a small smile. She was stunned like a deer in headlights. His hands remained in hers, but she made no attempt to pull away. Before she could really think about it, she answered.

 

"O-okay."

 

The minute she agreed, the hopeful grin he gave her dissolved into his normal smug expression. 

 

"I expected it to take MUCH longer to convince you, kitten. Maybe you're not as stubborn as I thought, if you can be swayed by a few words. Or are you sweet on me?" Leaning up against the seat, he crossed his arms and licked his lips.

 

"You played me!" She snarled, cheeks flushing with a mixture of embarassment and anger.

 

"Like a violin. Don't feel too bad about it, darling. I can be VERY persuasive," He pressed a quick kiss to her hand before standing up. "Let's get you home, yeah?"

 

"If you think I'm getting in that car with you-"

 

"I don't think, I know. Don't want to disobey your new boss, do you?"

 

He held out a hand to help her up but she snorted and pushed past it. Despite her anger, she walked to the Bentley. The whole ride home, she stared out the window in anger. When they finally got back to her flat, she unclipped her seatbelt and went to get out of the car; but he had grabbed her wrist to keep her from leaving.

 

"You'll get word later this week about your first assignment. Before then, have Barnes and Napier take you shopping. This-" He handed her an envelope. "-has a list of what clothes you'll need and a credit card. Unlimited balance. Think of it as a welcome present."

 

"Gee, thanks." She said arcanely. His hand was still on her wrist. Her large, brown eyes met his and the world stopped dangerously, like being in the eye of a hurricane. He touched her cheek and ran a thumb over her bottom lip. Their lips were alarmingly close to touching, and might have too if at that moment The Bee Gees hadn't started to sing. The connection was broken and her brows furrowed as she pulled away. Without a goodbye, she exited the car and he answered his phone. She didn't look back at Moriarty. If she had, she would've seen the longing gaze directed at her.

 

~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~×~

 

Sabrina ignored the guard dogs as she entered the flat, instead beelining to her room. Upon her desk sat a large computer monitor with a bright red bow. A note hung off of the bow, but she didn't bother reading it; she knew who it was from, and the last thing she needed was more of Jim Moriarty. Mixed emotions about him swirled about her head like funny little cartoon birds, randomly pecking her harder than the others. It was funny, really, how one man could elicit so many contrasting feelings. He made her angry and embarassed and scared and sad, and for that she hated him (or at least disliked him greatly). He also made her laugh and gave her a sort of nervous feeling, almost thrilling, and he made butterflies flutter about her stomach and gave her a lightheaded, airy feeling whenever he was close that made her want to-

 

Okay, maybe continuing down this train of thought wasn't the best idea at the moment. Putting HIM out of her mind (she wouldn't even think his name), she turned her thoughts to Chris. A few hours ago, she was still crushing on him, even if her feelings weren't as strong as they were a few weeks back. Now, though, Sabrina wasn't quite sure how she felt about Chris. Now, her crush seemed shallow and empty. Yes, he was attractive, and he was funny and sarcastic, but he'd also been a huge asshole. It seemed that she liked the idea of him more than the guy himself. Compared to her feelings for He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named (not Voldemort), her feelings for Chris were almost nonexistent. Between her and her new boss (she cringed at the word), there was a hazardous electricity that promised excitement and thrill.

 

And at that thought, her mind went back to Jim. Crap. Why did it always come back to him? Unable to restrain her curiosity, she hopped off of her bed to inspect the note. She ripped it from the new monitor clumsily and cut her finger on the card-stock. A drop fell onto the card and she began to suck on the wound.

 

'Kitten,

 

Do try not to make a habit of breaking expensive things. Your salary might not keep up with your little fits of anger. Consider this a welcome gift. The password is your name, all lowercase.

 

-Mr. Moriarty'

 

A feeling of naïveté and embarrassment washed over her. He had known she'd accept his offer even before he asked. The way he signed it seemed to sneer with superiority from the thick paper, which was now stained with her blood. Sabrina snorted. As though she'd ever call him that. Still, she had to admit that the computer sitting on her desk was pretty slick. 

 

After grabbing a bandage for her finger, she turned on the machine. The words "please enter your password" appeared above a white text box. She typed in "sabrina" and waited. Red, bold letters flashed on the screen. 

 

ACCESS DENIED

 

She frowned in confusion and tried again with "sabrina moran".

 

ACCESS DENIED

 

"sabrina alexandra moran"

 

ACCESS DENIED

 

"moran"

 

ACCESS DENIED

 

"fuck you"

 

ACCESS DENIED

 

By this point she was almost tearing out her hair. She grabbed the card, hoping for a hint. Immediately, she found what she was looking for and withheld a groan.

 

"kitten"

 

ACCESS GRANTED

 

There wasn't much on the desktop. An internet browser, document-writing software, and something without a name. She hovered over the symbol, a black "J". After a moment of deliberation, she clicked on it. It looked like a computer game. Immediately, a tutorial started. Text typed itself across the screen.

 

"Welcome to 'The Hunt', the most dangerous game in England! Complete missions correctly, and receive rewards. Failure to accomplish a task will result in punishment seen as fit by your boss, the mysterious 'Mr. M'. Sometimes, tasks will require partners or equipment, which he will provide as necessary."

 

The text disappeared and was replaced by a list.

 

"The rules are as follows:

1. Do not attempt to discover the identity of Mr. M. You will only find out if he chooses to reveal himself to you.

2. Do not give out information to rivals. Treachery will not be tolerated.

3. Do not talk about your missions with anyone beside the partner(s) assigned to you for that mission.

4. Do not disobey any commands given to you by Mr. M."

5. Et cetera, et cetera."

 

A small smile involuntarily spread across her face at the fifth rule. She clicked a box to agree to the rules and was brought to a gray screen titled "Current Missions - Complete By - Partners". The only thing listed was "Wardrobe - Wednesday - Napier & Barnes".

 

Sabrina threw a glance at the envelope resting on her bed and opened it up, dumping the contents onto her blanket. The list and credit card were inside, as promised, and she tried not to be disappointed when she saw that there was no note inside. She scanned the clothes list. 

 

The items seemed pretty normal, and were mainly black clothes. Black t-shirts, black athletic pants, black boots, black gloves... Towards the end, things such as "navy blazer" and "khaki slacks" were listed. All in all, the clothes took up two pages. She glanced at the computer screen. If she only had until Wednesday, she might as well go now. It wasn't like there was anything else she needed to do. No rehearsal, homework finished.

 

Sabrina walked over to the main room. When the men saw her, their expressions displayed immense concern.

 

"Did he do anything to you?" Napier asked with a parental tone. She shook her head.

 

"He, uh, offered me a job... And I accepted," At these words, Barnes' eyes widened in shock and Napier's brows furrowed. She took their silence as a sign to keep going. "Seb's trained me pretty well in terms of shooting and fighting so it's not like this is anything hard or different for me..." She trailed off, waiting for some sort of verbal reaction.

 

After an uncomfortable period of time, Napier walked out of the flat, slamming the door loudly behind him. Barnes sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

 

"Kid, if you were any deeper in shit, I'd probably mistake you for a pig." He finally spoke.

 

She mumbled a bit at that and fell silent.

 

"Why did you accept? I know why your brother does this; he had to provide for the family when you were younger and the money is good. But what's your excuse? You could really be something, and you're giving it up to work for a master criminal, so I'm thinking that you either have a penchant for killing that we didn't know about or you're not as bright as you led us to believe."

 

"Barnes, that's not fair. What led YOU to do this, huh? You have some great reason that helps you justify it?"

 

"This isn't about me-"

 

"You're right, it's not," she snapped. "It's about me and my decision. If you don't support what I choose to do, that's not my problem; but you have to respect that it is a choice I made for myself and that it isn't changing."

 

Barnes stared at Sabrina with shock, not used to seeing this ferocious side of her. 

 

"Oh, and the 'bossman' wants you guys to take me shopping for work clothes. Deadline is Wednesday."

 

With that, she went to her room and slammed the door with a bang, apparently trying to outdo the loudness of Napier's' exit.

 

Barnes groaned and fell back onto the couch. This kid was gonna be the death of him.


	7. Drunks and Diamonds

Hours went by, and Napier still had not returned from wherever he went. Barnes tried calling the man many times, but each time it went straight to voicemail, meaning his phone was either off or dead. Barnes tried not panic, knowing that it’d do him no good. Still, an anxious gnawing settled into the pit of his stomach. Sure, his boyfriend had walked away from situations that made him angry, but he always mentioned where he was going. This time, there was nothing to go on.

He was so perturbed that he barely noticed Sabrina gently sit next to him on the couch. “Napier isn’t back yet?” Barnes gave a brisk shake of the head, still angry with her.

“Look, I’m sorry I snapped, alright? I don’t wanna fight with you two, but you need to recognize that this was my choice about my life. I’m not just some stupid kid. I know what this type of work entails.”

“Then you probably know the survival rate for this type of work too.” He suggested flatly, focusing on the pattern of the carpet to avoid her gaze.

“I do. And if you had asked me this morning if this was what I planned to do as a job I would have laughed. I didn’t know that this was something I wanted until he asked me.”

Barnes shook his head and let out a derisive snort.

“What?” she inquired.

“Mr. Moriarty has a certain… power of persuasion. He can manipulate you into doing something and making you feel like it was your idea all along. He plays your weaknesses and desire. Sex, money, power, revenge... or love.” 

“I don’t love him-”

“Calm down, I wasn’t talking about you.”

At this admission, an image popped into Sabrina’s head: Barnes as a young criminal, working and killing for Moriarty.

“This was before I met Dean, of course.”

“Dean?”

“Napier.”

“Oh.”

“I went into the military straight out of high school. They kicked me out with honorable discharge. They said the war had gotten to me too much, but that was a lie. It’s funny how they reward you for killing men, but punish you for loving them,” Barnes smirked sardonically at this. “I came out with anger, PTSD, and extensive weapons training. Along comes Mister James Moriarty, with his Westwood suits and his Irish charm, and I fell immediately. Not in love, it was never really love. It was some sort of pseudo-romance. 

"I wanted to feel needed, and he provided. I never realized how empty the relationship was, from both sides. Once he had me in a position where I wouldn’t be able to quit the job, he dropped me like I was garbage. Gloated quite a bit, too. And although I was furious at him, I was angrier with myself for not seeing through his act. 

"Dean doesn’t know, and I’d appreciate if you didn’t tell him. He knows Moriarty and I have a history, but not the full details of what happened.”

Sabrina was so in shock that she forgot to answer for a bit. “I won’t… I’m sorry, Barnes.”

He shook his head. “Don’t think I’m looking for pity. I’m just warning you that he is not a person you should fall for. And don’t pretend you don’t have feelings for him. I’ve seen how he affects you, how your voice alters when you talk about him. I won’t tell anyone as long as you promise to keep your relationship with him strictly professional.”

“I will.” She vowed, knowing fully well that she was already breaking that promise.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

Napier stumbled into the house long after the sun went down. He fumbled with the keys, trying to hang them on the hook next to the door.

“Fuck it.” He slurred, throwing the keys onto the coffee table. 

“Drunk on the job? My, my, what would your boyfriend say?” A voice drawled from the darkness. Napier groped the wall for the light switch before clumsily pulling out and dropping his weapon.

Moriarty snorted. “Put that thing away before you shoot yourself, idiot. It’s just little old me,” He singsonged dangerously. A dark energy filled the room as his eyes darkened to black. 

“Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to remember paying you to guard the girl, not to get drunk off your ass!” He growled softly, his accent so thick it almost concealed his words. Napier vaguely wondered if Moriarty did this to keep from waking Sabrina. The next minute, Napier wondered how he ended up on the floor, until he realized the Moriarty had sweep his legs from under him. Napier’s boss gave a disgusted and disinterested look to the man on the ground.

“Do not make this mistake again.”

Napier clenched his eyes and teeth, trying to control the awful dizziness from his buzz. Normally he could hold his alcohol well, but he overdid it that night by a longshot.

Light footsteps sounded down the hallway as Barnes made his way into the living room. His eyes settled with a hard look on Moriarty, but he kept his words polite.

“Morning, boss.” He spoke coolly.

“Good morning to you too, Cas.” Moriarty purred back. Barnes would have none of it.

“Sir, you know that I’d prefer being called Barnes.”

A Cheshire grin appeared on Jim’s face. “We’re not on first name terms anymore? After all, we did share a bed.”

Even in his inebriated state, Napier’s face was filled with pure jealousy, which Moriarty immediately noticed.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m no longer interested in your little angel as a bedmate.” Moriarty assured condescendingly.

“No, you have your sights set on Sabrina.” Barnes accused, his expression still as stone.

Moriarty paused for a bit, before directing a cold gaze at the man. “I hardly think that that’s any of your business, Mr. Barnes. Actually, that’s not your business at all. So back off.”

The tension in the room thickened severely at these words. Barnes did want to stand up for the girl, but the warning had been clear. Disobedience never recurred when one worked for Moriarty. 

“Yes, sir. If you don’t mind, I’d like to get Napier to bed before he passes out on the floor. Good night.”

Moriarty watched with a bored expression as Barnes pulled his boyfriend from the ground and half-carried him to the bedroom. He outwardly snorted at the domesticity, but inside his head an unwelcome image appeared in his head. He imagined carrying a tired Sabrina to a bedroom, and after tucking her in planting a kiss on her forehead as she gazed up at him with adoration-

He shook the thought from his mind and made a movement to leave the apartment. Reaching for the doorknob, he tried to stop thinking of her. Although…

Quietly, he made his way down the hall. Barnes and Napier’s door was closed; they must’ve assumed that he’d leave straightaway.

He slipped into Sabrina’s room on tiptoe, being careful not to wake her up. Moonlight streamed into through the window, casting shadows on her sleeping form. Stepping next to the bed, he stood over her, watching her breathe.

The girl was in no way a glamorous sleeper; one leg stuck out from the blankets and a few strands of hair were stuck in her mouth. He pulled the hairs out so she didn’t end up choking and a warm feeling settled in his stomach that he viciously tried to beat out. In the dark, he stared down at her. Very softly, he caressed her cheek like he had the day before in the car.

As noiselessly as he had entered the room, he left, although not before hearing her dreamily mutter his name.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

The next day after her rehearsal, Barnes and Napier took Sabrina to the mall. For the most part, it was an uneventful occasion. After going to a few stores, she had accumulated all of the necessary “business clothes”, so they went to eat at the food court.

That’s when the shit hit the fan.

Sabrina went up to get some ketchup for her burger and didn’t notice the teen making his way towards her.

“You said your brother didn’t want you going anywhere besides school.” He accused, causing her to turn around in shock.

“Chris,” she stuttered. “I didn’t think you were gonna be here.”

“Oh, right. That makes it so much better, thanks for that.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “I didn’t mean it like that, and you know it. The only reason I’m here is because I need some clothes for my new job, so my cousins brought me.”

“Oh… I kinda feel like an ass.”

“Well you’re kinda acting like one.” She joked grinning.

“Watch it, Moran. I don’t need this abuse.”

“Please. You’re about as abused as royalty is.”

“Because I’m the king of everything.” He announced with mock smugness, causing her to roll her eyes (this was an affect he often had on her).

“Chris!” Came a feminine voice. A slender redhead bounced over to them. “Oh! Hi, Sabrina.” The girl grinned. Sabrina doubted that she knew anything of what had happened between her (Sabrina) and Chris.

“Hi, Julie,” she returned the smile. “How’s it going?” 

Chris looked as uncomfortable as ever. ‘Good.’ Sabrina thought.

“Pretty well, just stressed from all of the school work.”

“I understand completely. And then to add onto it, I’ve got the play.”

“Right! You’re the female lead, yeah?”

“Yep. You coming to see it?”

“I wouldn’t miss anything my Chris was involved in.” She smiled, kissing his cheek. 

Normally, the jealousy monster would have reared its ugly head inside of her, but oddly enough… it remained silent this time. Huh. That was a nice surprise. Although, this was still the most awkward conversation she’d had in a while, though she didn’t show it. Luckily, her guard dog in shining armor came to save her.

“Kid,” she heard behind her. Sabrina turned around to see Napier. 

“Hey! Um, Julie, Chris, this is my cousin.” She introduced. Napier caught on quickly.’

“Cas wants to get moving, alright?” He asked. She thanked him with her eyes and he tried not to smirk.

“Good seeing you two.” She ended the performance with a smile. One of her best acts, honestly. No one but her would know that during the entire conversation, she was imagining slamming Chris’ stupid face into a wall.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

After the impromptu meeting with Chris, Sabrina was a hundred percent done with everything. Napier allowed her to drive home (“This is the last time, though.”), which helped her to clear her mind. She couldn’t help but think of how Chris immediately started attacking her without giving a chance for her to explain, and then she just forgave him… just like she did after he broke her heart. 

What she wanted more than anything was the guts to really rip him a new one and let him know what an asshole he’d been, but she doubted that she’d ever get to that point; she was just too much of a coward for that. Maybe she could convince Jim to arrange an “accidental” mugging…

‘Calm down there, crazy.’ She thought to herself as Napier unlocked the apartment door. Making her way down the hall, she saw a flashing light on the answering machine. She picked up a phone to listen.

“I’ll just go ahead and assume that the only reason you aren’t home is because you’re out clothes shopping, which is quite good. Seems like you’ll need them a teensy bit earlier than expected. Check your laptop for the briefing on your first mission. I’d give you the briefing myself, but I do have other things to do. And I don’t want you to worry; ol’ Barnesy will be your partner on this one so you don’t need to get your hands dirty… or bloody, for that matter. It should be simple enough though. You seduce and you snare. Oh, I left you a present on your bed. Don’t worry, nothing kinky, kitten. I’m saving myself for marriage. Try not to botch it up!”

With that, the message ended. Sabrina pretended not to notice the blush that had turned her face crimson as she went to her room to get her present. Oh God, she hoped it wasn’t a bomb or something. As it turned out though, it wasn’t a bomb and, like he promised, it was nothing kinky.

A white clothing box sat on the edge of her bed. Slowly, she removed the lid and pulled back the tissue paper to reveal its contents. She gasped. 

Inside were a velvet box and a pitch- black dress. The gown’s sleeves capped her shoulders and led down to a sweetheart cut in the front. The A-line skirt was subtly sparkly. Clear crystals lined the top of the bodice and the end of the skirt, and also formed a thin belt around the waist.

After putting the gown lightly on her bed, she lifted up the box. Inside was a set of diamond earrings and a necklace. Nervously, she placed it down, thinking that her hand could slip and she’d break something. Turning back to the box, she saw a note taped to the inside of the lid.

“Good luck, kitten.

-Jim”


	8. Shooting Gala-ry

Stephen Geltz was the target. Sabrina had never heard of the guy, but he must have done something to appear on Moriarty’s hit list. Unfortunately, there was no explanation on the little… computer game… thing. She didn’t know what to call it. Anyway, it offered nothing to the curious mind, something she greatly detested. She’d at least like to know why she was helping kill the guy, but that probably fell under the “et cetera” section of the rules. 

According to the screen, she was to get Geltz to take her to what he’d call his “upstairs lounge”, and once there, she needed to sneak him a tranquilizer pill so he wouldn’t be able to react when Barnes came in. Apparently, he was something of a brute, and could fight well enough to fend off her mission partner. The plan was simple enough… and it was apparently planned for Saturday.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

“My tights keep sliding down, how inappropriate would it be for me to lift my skirt and pull them back up?” She muttered to Barnes.

“Not very appropriate, but it might get Geltz to notice you quicker,” He replied with a quick grin, dropping it as soon as they entered. Her arm was linked with his, but they were spaced far apart. Barnes had taken on the persona of an oil tycoon, and she his young, gold-digging, unfaithful wife. “Remember, I can hear everything through the earring transmitter. Anything bad happens, I’ll be there in seconds.” 

She nodded and took a glass of champagne from a withered butler and, like they rehearsed, Barnes took it from her.

Pouting, she declared, “You never let me have any fun!” She turned on her heel and headed towards the bar that Geltz was leaning up against, making it clear that she was upset. He took notice of her instantly, and she was less than thrilled.

The man had to be at least fifty years old, and he smelled of perspiration and… sausage? He was large, not exactly fat; more bulky than anything.

“What’s a pretty thing such as yourself doing all alone?” He slurred, clearly already buzzed. Sabrina internally snorted. The line seemed to be out of a bad movie. Still, she put on an act.

“My husband,” She made sure to negatively emphasize the word. “Seems to not want me to have any fun tonight. He even took away my drink!” She fluttered her lashes at him and he gave her a slimy smile.

“I’m sure that I can help you with that, Miss…?”

“Hardy. Felicia Hardy.” She replied with a sly grin.

“Stephen Geltz. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Felicia.”

“And yours, Mr. Geltz. I understand it’s your birthday?”

“It is.” The slimy smile had grown. She nearly vomited out her next words.

“Well I suppose,” she purred, playing with his tie. “I should give you some sort of a present.”

“T-there’s a present room upstairs in my lounge. W-would you like to come see?” The man was now stuttering foolishly as she ran her fingers along the edge of the tie.

“I’d love nothing more.” She affirmed flirtatiously, taking his hand and letting him lead her. Barnes was laughing boisterously on the other end of the transmitter. 

“Oh, shut up.” She muttered. Geltz gave her an odd look, but didn’t question it.

Swiftly, she took off her earring and held it next to a nearby speaker, causing a loud feedback on Barnes’ end. Putting it back in her ear, she heard him swearing loudly and did a victory dance in her head.

The tranquilizer rested safely in the largest diamond of her necklace, and she fingered it nervously with her free hand. After going up two flights of stairs that left Geltz panting and left Sabrina wishing she hadn’t worn heels, they’d arrived.

The room was gaudy, with gold foil-looking wallpaper and an L-shaped black couch with different leopard and zebra patterned blankets thrown on it. There was a large bar that took up an entire wall. Now all she needed was an excuse for a drink, although that wouldn’t be too hard; he was probably planning on getting her drunk anyways. Luckily, the perfect pretense came within seconds.

 _“Cough if you’re in the room.”_ Barnes said. She did. _“I’ll be there in two minutes. You need to slip him the tranq now.”_

“Are you all right?” Geltz asked in response to her cough. She smiled.

“My throats a bit dry. Do you happen to have any drinks up here?”

“Of course! One moment, my dear.” He began to walk over to the bar, but she grabbed his sleeve.

“Why don’t you just sit down and relax? I’ll get the drinks.”

“Are you sure?”

Her lips curled into a cunning smile and she glided over to him. “It’s all a part of your present, Stevie.” She whispered in his ear.

Not waiting for an answer, she moved behind the bar. Her hands trembled as she grabbed a bottle of champagne off of the top shelf. It was all coming to the point of no return. She grabbed two glasses and set them on the ledge under the bottles, obscuring them from view so all Geltz could see was her back. Shakily, she poured the alcohol into the two glasses. 

She was so focused on getting the tranquilizer out of the necklace that she didn’t hear Geltz approach her. The pill was in her hands as he snaked his arms around her and she froze.

“You know, I’ve had a lot of women in my time, but I can truly say that none have been as… mysterious as you. I hardly know a thing about you, Mrs. Hardy.”

“Well, t-there’s not much to know.” She stuttered, attempting to keep up the façade. There was no way she’d be able to slip the pill in the drink while he was watching over her shoulder.

At that moment, Geltz decided to snuggle into her shoulder. A nanosecond later, Barnes entered the room. From behind, it must’ve appeared that Geltz had passed out into her shoulder because Barnes decided to walk over to the bar and speak aloud. That’s when the shit truly hit the fan.

“Nice job, kid. Moriarty’ll be-” Barnes cut off when he saw Geltz turn around, fully conscious.

“Moriarty?” He growled angrily with recognition at the name. He glared at Sabrina. “You stupid fucking whore!” 

Geltz grabbed her throat and began strangling her, pushing her up against the bottles. “You think you can fuck with me for your boss? I’ll fucking rip your throat out you little-”

By that point, Barnes got him off of the girl and basically threw him over the bar. Barnes came at him hard and fast, but the older man managed to catch a punch. He twisted Barnes’ wrist and as the latter man grunted in pain, the gun fell from his hand. Barnes broke free and reached for it, but was kicked over by Geltz. Geltz went to stomp on Barnes, who rolled out of the way. 

The deadly dance continued until Geltz managed to get his arm wrapped around Barnes’ throat. Barnes motioned with his eyes towards the abandoned gun while he tried to avoid being killed. 

Without thinking, she ran around the bar, picked up the forgotten gun, cocked the hammer, aimed, pulled the trigger and a silenced shot went off.

A clean hole appeared through Geltz’s head as his cadaver dropped to the ground.

The room was noiseless except for a loud ringing in her ears. As the ringing grew louder, the room around her started to spin. Sabrina keeled over and vomited, ignoring Barnes’ concerned cursing as he ran over to hold her hair back for her.

After her stomach was good and empty, she wiped her lips and allowed herself to look at the pool of blood that was gradually swelling. Within seconds, she was sobbing into Barnes’ shirt.

“Shit shit shit shit _fuck!_ ” She exclaimed. Her mascara was now running into her eyes, making them burn and blur. Barnes held the girl close as she wept. Once her tears has somewhat subsided, he sat her down on the couch and made a phone call.

“Hello?” Moriarty answered from the other end of the line snappishly.

“Uh, is this a bad time boss?” 

“Yes, of course it is. What do you want?” 

“Geltz is dead, but it didn’t go down the way it was supposed to. I didn’t kill him… Sabrina did.” He snuck a glance at the girl, who now appeared to be in shock.

“Say that again! Say that again and know that if you are lying to me I will find you and I will _skiiiiiiiin_ you.”

Barnes paid no mind. Often when Moriarty was dealing with other situations, he said random intimidating sentences into the phone. However, he did sound a tad bit upset.

“I’m taking her back to the flat. Try and meet us there if possible.”

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

“Sorry. Wrong day to die.” Moriarty announced almost regretfully to the two men as Barnes hung up.

“Oh, did you get a better offer?” The dark-haired man inquired sarcastically.

“You’ll be hearing from me, Sherlock.” He warned, turning and walking away, pretending to continue the phone conversation to avoid any awkwardness. 

“So if you have what you say you have, I’ll make you rich. If you don’t, I’ll make you into shoes.” He nonchalantly threatened no one. As soon as he exited, he broke into a run towards his car and sped towards the flat.

After all, his kitten needed him.


	9. Bloodlust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: There is a description of a panic attack and blood. I don't think it's so detailed that it would trigger someone, but just in case I thought I'd add this warning. If you think it may trigger you, just skip from when she gets in the tub to when she goes to her bedroom.

_Drip_  
...  
 _Splat_  
...  
 _Drip_  
...  
 _Splat_  
...  
 _Drip_  
...  
 _Splat_

Sabrina could still see the stream of blood in her mind. The bullet entered Geltz's left temple and exited his right with trembling precision. He had fallen on his right side, and the flow of crimson followed a path down his cheek into a small pool at his nose, where the large drops of blood joined the pool under his head every few seconds.

Once Barnes had finished his phone call, he recognized that she'd gone into shock. He gently wrapped her in one of the gaudy animal print blankets and carried her to the Porsche.

She sat in the passenger's seat, staring out her window the entire time. Every few minutes, he'd ask her how she was feeling, but not once could she bring herself to answer. 

Yes, Geltz was a creep, and most likely a criminal, but he was also dead. A soon-to-be-rotting corpse. Because of _her._

The smell still stuck to the bottom of her dress, and she felt a choking spasm coming on. She had emptied her stomach's contents before, and now she was just dry-heaving.

 _"Maybe that's a good thing. Wouldn't want to get puke all over Moriarty's car."_ She thought with grim amusement between coughs. After the longest car ride of her life, they finally arrived at the flat. 

"Kid, you okay to walk?" Barnes murmured as he parked the car. She stayed silent. He walked around to her side of the car and lifted her from the seat.

At the apartment, he set her down on the couch and then went to draw her a bath. He barely heard her pad into the bathroom.

"Thank you." She murmured once the tub was full. He gave her a hollow smile and kissed her forehead, and then left so she could bathe.

Sabrina slowly sunk into the warm water. Barnes had put in some sort of lavender bubble bath, which worked to relax her. Still, her mind was overrun with traumatic images of the event. Her eyelids became heavy.

 _The water, so bubbly and warm, became red and hot and sticky. Every time she tried to stand up, it constricted her more and more, leaving her suffocating in a bloodbath. Her lungs stopped working, but maybe that was good. Maybe she_ should _die after what she did-_

Suddenly, she was pulled from the tub. She began gasping for air. 

"What the fuck are you trying to do?" Napier growled at her. She wondered idly when he had gotten home.

"I was- I just-" Sabrina began to hyperventilate as she spoke, and she sunk to the floor.Recognizing her panic attack, Napier grabbed a towel and placed it lightly on her shivering form, not wanting to upset her further.

"Hey, hey," he whispered. "You're safe, okay? You're safe. You're not there, you're in your house, okay, kid? I need you to breathe, can you do that for me? Just take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds... Good, now let it out, good girl."

She did as ordered for the next ten minutes until it finally ended. After that, they sat in silence together.

"Barnes filled me in on what happened. I know you're upset, but that's no reason to try and drown yourself." Napier spoke after a while.

"I wasn't trying to, I just fell asleep in the tub. It was a mistake." 

He nodded. "You get anxiety attacks a lot?"

"Not as much as I used to. I had them really bad for about two years after my parents died, but I got some meds and then I got better. How did you know what to do?"

"My older sister used to get them. She'd always had an anxiety problem, depression too. I've learned from experience."

"You never told me that you have a sister."

"Had. Past tense," He corrected. She didn't push the issue and he moved on from it. "Moriarty is here. I told Cas and him that you wouldn't want to see him, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. He's in your room, so I brought you some pyjamas. That's actually why I came in here in the first place, in case you were wondering."

"Good thing that you did." She commented and he grunted in agreement.

"Don't fall asleep in the tub again, kid." He advised as he left. She slipped into her long-sleeved shirt and her pyjama pants and headed into her room.

Moriarty was lying on her bed, throwing an apple up into the air and catching it. She watched the spectacle a few times before entering, hoping that it would fall and hit him straight in the face. It didn't.

"Here to make fun of me? Because if you are, I really don't want to hear it." She informed him. Snorting, he sat up and took a bite from the apple.

"Nope," He talked while chewing, causing her to cringe. Seeing her look, he smiled widely. "Not grossing you out, am I?"

"Nope," She replied, mocking his infliction. "So what the hell are you doing in my home, in my room, on my bed?"

Immediately, his eyes darkened. He hopped off of the bed and began stalking up to her, throwing his apple to the ground. "I'll tell you just what I'm doing here, kitten. I got a phone call during a very important confrontation. That phone call was from Barnes, and it was about you, so I left that confrontation. In fact, I left so quickly that I exited through the wrong door and had to run around the side of the building to get to my car, but I suppose that's a bit besides the point, isn't it? Because the point is that I dropped everything to come make sure that _you_ were fine, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that you could be less crotchety and more grateful, kitten. Think you can try that?"

She glared at him as he caught her against her closet door.

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, _Jimmy_." She emphasized his name, quirking an eyebrow challengingly. He chuckled in response.

"You're walking on a thin rope, kitten." He remarked nonchalantly, trying to appear casually threatening.

"It makes life more interesting." She replied.

"Don't deal well with boredom?"

"Not exactly."

He smirked at her words.

“What?” she inquired.

“You’re so adamant about not being like me, kitten. The thing is, you already are. Oh, don’t gape at me… You can pretend all you like, but it won’t make a lick of difference. See, you’re just a tamer version of me. That’s why you’re the kitten, and I’m the _tiger_ ,” He purred the last word into her ear and she shivered. “Now, honestly, are you upset because you killed Geltz, or because that’s the sort of thing I would do?”

“You know what? I’ve had enough, okay? I didn’t want this job in the first place until you tricked me into taking it.”

He released a derisive snort. "Hardly. I spoke a few soft words and you took it, and that's not because of your little crush on me either. You wanted this. You like feeling dangerous. After you killed him, you had an adrenaline rush, yeah? You probably pretended that it was a normal reaction to killing someone, fear or something. But you and I both know what it _really_ is, don't we?" 

"What is it?" She whispered back. He brushed her hair behind her ear and leaned in. He dropped his voice intimately.

"Exhilaration. Thrill. Stimulation." He purred out the innuendos with a wicked grin.

"You tie is crooked." She commented, throwing him off completely. He stepped back with a puzzled expression on his face.

"What are you-" 

He wasn't able to finish his question before she grabbed his tie and yanked his face towards hers, crashing their lips together passionately. 

The criminal responded immediately, pinning her to the wall and supporting her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He let out a low growl as her fingers twisting through his hair, yanking slightly.

"Hello." Came a gruff voice from the doorway. The voice's owner glared disapprovingly at the two. Sabrina groaned with disbelief as Moriarty set her down.

"Hey, Seb."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're welcome.


	10. Chapter 10

Sabrina honestly expected Jim to leave her hanging to face Sebastian's wrath alone, but surprisingly he stayed. In fact, she had to pull his hand away from where it rested on her waist.

"What the hell were you two doing?" 

"Discussing the dichotomy of good versus evil, obviously." Sabrina replied snarkily, causing Jim to snicker. This only made Seb more furious, but she didn't care. For some reason, she had suddenly become indifferent to his anger. Apparently, killing a man does that to you. She was still intoxicated with power. She was untouchable.

" _You._ " The sniper growled, turning on Jim.

" _Me,_ " The criminal replied haughtily. "Oh, and don't worry, it was _extremely_ consensual." That was the last straw. Sebastian lunged at Moriarty, knocking him to the ground to the symphony of Sabrina's screams. Seb's hands were squeezing the other man's throat. Jim was giggling between coughing breaths. His eyes glittered maniacally as if encouraging Sebastian to keep on choking.

All at once, it stopped. Sebastian got up and dusted himself off. Just then, Barnes and Napier burst in, guns raised and ready to fire. 

"We heard screams." Barnes explained once he'd assessed that there was no immediate danger.

"We're all good in here." Seb barked at the two men. They gave doubtful looks, but exited just the same.

"Seb-" Sabrina started.

" _Don't._ " He ordered sharply, and then softened a bit. "I just want to know why."

She held his gaze for a moment before sighing. "I've had a rough night. I needed to forget about it, and he wouldn't shut up, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone."

Jim snorted. "Please, kitten. Don't act like you haven't wanted this for a while."

"I haven't!" She snapped, eliciting a smirk from him. With great effort, she managed to not beat the stupid grin off of his face. Sebastian exited the room and she followed after him. Sabrina ran after him.

"It won't happen again! It was stupid mistake!"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

Neither of the Morans saw the way Jim's face fell slightly as she announced that. The hurt look was quickly replaced by a dark glare. If she thought that the kiss was just a spontaneous, adrenaline-driven accident, the girl was clearly a fool.

He exited the room and saw Sabrina knocking on Sebastian's door. They locked eyes for a moment, her tearful gaze meeting his cold one, and he turned on his heel and walked out of the flat.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

"Seb, just open the door. I just want to talk." She pleaded softly, her voice growing hoarse. The door swung open so quickly that it would've hit her had she not jumped back.

"I don't want your excuses or your lies."

"Seb, I'm sorry! I didn't know you'd react like this to me kissing someone."

He scoffed. "You don't get it, do you? It's not that you're kissing someone, it's that you're kissing a man who's ten years older than you and is a complete psychopath!"

She her mouth opened and closed like a fish. "Look, I don't know why I kissed him. I mean I do, but I don't."

"That clears it up." He snorted derisively.

"Just with all that happened tonight, I needed an out. I mean... Seb, I _killed_ someone tonight."

Immediately, his expression changed to one of sympathy.

"Kid, I can understand you being upset-"

"No." She cut him off quietly. "No, I didn't- I'm not upset or remorseful. I was shaken, and freaked out, but... I just didn't care. I executed someone tonight, and it doesn't make a difference. At all."

The room fell to a tense silence. Sighing, Sebastian sat on his bed, the springs creaking under the pressure. 

"I got shot." He announced suddenly, breaking the silence. Her head snapped up.

"You what?! Jesus fuck, Seb, you could’ve started with that!” 

“I was going to, but my thoughts were diverted a bit.” He remarked with a hint of snark.

“What happened? Where did you get shot?”

“Another agent, Bronson, was pretending to be Moriarty. He’d set up a meeting with Ronald Adair under the pretense that bygones are bygones, and that he wanted to discuss doing business together. I was to stay hidden and shoot Adair when the chance arose, but as it turns out, the bastard had a sniper of his own there. She shot Bronson, thinking he was Moriarty. I shot at her, but I couldn’t see her, I only had a general idea of her position.

“She fired back, and her bullet hit my shooting arm,” He rolled up his shirt sleeve to show the bandage. “I was too preoccupied with her, and Adair got away. I tried to help Bronson, but she was too good. Shot him clean through the skull. I needed to get the bullet out, so I couldn’t give chase. One of my associates, a hacker, found out that Adair purchased a ticket back to Wales, so we’re keeping an eye on him from afar while I recuperate. I’ll be leaving again in a week for Wales.”

“Holy shit.” she swore quietly.

“You said it, kiddo.”

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

_CRASH_

A priceless vase shattered upon impact as it hit the wall.

Moriarty let out a roar as he flung another and another treasured artifact (taken from various museums) across the room.

She was a good actress, he had to give her that. Had he not known her true feelings, he almost would’ve believed that the kiss was a mistake. Sebastian probably believed her, but his mind was easily persuaded by his love for the girl. 

Jim also felt… something towards her, but he didn’t allow it to blind him. He could tell when she was lying, even if she managed to control any physical tics which might give her away. He _knew_ that she loved him, even if she wouldn’t admit it to herself.

He hurled a final relic at the wall, just for fun.

She would be his, no matter what the cost.


	11. Opening Night

"Are you sure you can't leave after this weekend?" She asked, pleading at her brother. They were packing for Seb to drive to Wales the next morning. Unfortunately, the next day was also opening night of her musical. 

"You know I can't, killer," He saw her grimace at the nickname that now rang true. "I didn't mean-"

"I know you didn't."

There was a short silence before she spoke again. 

"I can get Barnes or Napier to tape it. They’re coming tomorrow." She offered. 

Sebastian mock-gasped. "But isn't that _illegal_?" He asked with a fake shocked expression. She threw one of his sweatshirts at him. "That's really counterproductive to the packing process, you know." He remarked smugly. 

"See, it's stuff like that that makes me want to throw stuff at you." 

"What, like this?" He took a pair of socks and hurled them at her, but she ducked out of the way. 

"For a sniper, you have awful aim." Another article of clothing went flying at her, this time smacking her straight in the nose. 

"Didn't miss that time." He commented. 

"Now who's being counterproductive?" She asked sneeringly.

"Both of us."

"Fair point." 

"Wanna call it a draw?"

"Okay. But I won."

"Whatever you say, sis."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

Sabrina was having her hair curled when a stage crew member walked into the dressing room.

"Hey, someone sent flowers back for you." The girl said, handing a bouquet to Sabrina. 

She inspected the flowers and turned to the crew member. "It doesn't say who they're from."

"Um, it was some guy in a suit. Average height, dark hair, weird accent?"

' _Of course_ ' she thought to herself. She forced a smile on her face. "Thanks for bringing them."

"Yep." The girl replied as she left the room. 

While she was getting ready, more and more flowers came in. Some from Barnes and Napier, some from Seb (who'd apparently ordered them ahead of time), and even some carnations from Chris. Jim had sent a single rose with a black ribbon (she supposed that that was in reference to the musical she was in, although she wasn't sure why he'd sent her a rose _and_ a bouquet).

A costume crew girl named Erica had been helping her dress, and after nearly two hours of prep-time, she was in her first outfit. She smoothed the folds of the dancer's costume and walked to the wings, prepared for the show to start. 

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

The musical continued as normal for a while without any interruptions. However, all good things must come to an end, and sometimes the ending is abrupt and in the second act.

At this part of the performance, there was an opera within the musical. Sabrina's character was wandering the stage as a naïve soubrette, about to be seduced by Don Juan. The music began for her duet with Chris, but something was off. Chris had missed his cue, and the first verse of the song was a solo for him. 

As the intro led up to the beginning, she realized that she would have to start singing right away. She remained in character, even though in reality her heart was beating about 1000 times a second. The orchestra followed along with her, and she changed certain lyrics and movements so that it seemed like the song was meant to be performed by one person. 

The song slowly came to an end, and she wasn't sure how to proceed without Chris. His character basically ruled the next scene, confessing his love and then kidnapping her when she humiliated him. 

Her cheeks burned hotly due to a mixture of the stage lights and embarrassment. The orchestra maintained an instrumental version of the completed song, but she had no clue about what to do. 

She ended up not having to decide because at that moment Chris entered from stage right. For a brief moment she wondered why he was trembling but she soon found out. Behind him were five men, each holding a gun. Two guns were aimed at the audience, one at Chris' back, one aimed backstage, and one aimed... at her. ' _Shit_.' The black-haired man who was currently threatening her held up a hand to silence the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to make this as efficient as possible. Do not attempt to contact the police; the signals are blocked, as are the exits. Remain in your seats and we will be out of your hair shortly. I've only come for one thing."

He turned to look at Sabrina and she blanched. She would've liked to make clear her disdain at being referred to as a "thing", but she found it hard to form words whilst staring down the barrel of a gun. 

"Ms. Moran, it would be in everyone's best interest if you came with us." The stranger spoke with a smile, although his tone was edgy and dark. 

"Don't do it!" Chris cried out. The man made a gesture to Chris's captor, who moved the gun from the boy's back to his head, pulling the hammer.

She her eyes darted frantically between Chris and the man aiming a gun at her. Already, she could feel her chest tightening and she began to feel light-headed. She started taking deep breaths. If she couldn’t stop the attack completely, she could put it off for a few minutes.

The silence was tense as she worked up the nerve to speak. “I’ll go with you, as long as you don’t hurt any of these people.”

“You’re the only one I want. As long as you all comply, no one has to get hurt.”

Sabrina nodded numbly. Putting her hands behind her head, she began to walk in the direction the man motioned. It should have been that simple. It wasn’t. 

At that moment, Chris ran at the black-haired man. A round of bullets sliced the air and ripped through his body. People scream as he collapsed. Sabrina ran to the boy, cradling his head in her arms. She watched helplessly as the blood began to trickle from Chris’s mouth.

“I don’t want to die. Please don’t let me die.” He sobbed frantically.

“You’re not gonna die, okay? You’re gonna be just fine.” She cooed painfully.

“It hurts so bad.” He whimpered. Every second, he was growing paler and weaker. There was no way he would survive it.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”

He began to shake and jerk about. She began to stroke his hair, but he could not be assuaged. With a final gasp, he died, eyes wide and fearful. She closed the boy’s eyelids and laid his head on the ground softly.

“Time to go, Ms. Moran.” The man said unaffectedly. Standing up, Sabrina turned hateful eyes to him but did as she was told. He grabbed her arm sharply before she could protest and pulled the pins out of some smoke bombs. He hurled each into the audience and white smog filled the theater.

She was dragged out the emergency exit and into a dark SUV. The panic attack finally took ahold of her and she went unconscious.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~ 

The phone rang. A tall, pale man lifted it up to his ear. The man on the other end of the line explained the night’s happenings. The pale man listened intently, only distracted for the moment by the entrance of a short man in a jumper. He had brought tea. The pale man motioned the short man to sit down. The short man placed the tea tray down and gave the pale man a questioning look. The pale man held up a finger and then hung up the phone without saying goodbye, because that’s just how he was.

“Who was that, then?” The short man asked.

“Scotland Yard. A 20 year old male was shot and killed, and a 19 year old female was taken on the opening night of their performance. We don’t know who took her or where they took her, and in all likelihood she’ll be dead soon if we don’t find her.”

“Right. Christmas come early for you this year?” John Watson asked cheekily.

Sherlock Holmes smiled. “Ho ho ho.” 

The men grabbed their coats and darted out of 221B Baker Street.


	12. CSI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm sorry it took so long, everyone! Inspiration left me for a while, but tonight I buckled down and got out a chapter. I'm not sure if I'm happy how this chapter turned out, I may go back and edit it. I didn't want to leave you all hanging for another month though! This was a labor of love, and labor it was indeed. For some reason, it italicized most of the chapter so I had to go back and delete all of the html for italics. At one in the morning.

Fifteen minutes after his phone call with Lestrade, Sherlock was popping his collar against the cold as he and John made their way into the theater. The Detective Inspector was holding a file and conversing with Donovan. She sneered at Holmes.

"Oh good- the freak is here."

"Sally, a pleasure as always. Your knees aren't as smooth as normal. I take it that Anderson doesn't require your... _services_ anymore?"

"No more than anyone requires yours. Or wants yours, for that matter."

"Donovan, enough." Lestrade barked. She shot him a look and stalked away. Lestrade rolled his eyes at Sherlock. 

"Do you have to egg her on like that?" He asked.

"I was merely commenting on the fact that Anderson has not found use for her floor-scrubbing skills as of late."

The boys smirked at each other while Lestrade rolled his eyes again and began to give a rundown of the night's events.

Sherlock listened with an almost distant look, filing away any important information. He caught sight of an odd character close by. Throughout the conversation with Lestrade (which was technically still going on), he had been looking at Sherlock. It was subtle; he'd pretended to scan the crowd, but his eyes always found their way back to Sherlock and lingered too long. 

Holmes analyzed the man.

_Witness, not just a concerned passerby. Ex-soldier. Intimate with the man next to him._

_Nervous._

Sherlock's attention moved to the taller one, who was frantically speaking into something, most likely a phone. The men were both considerably well-dressed. They appeared to be wealthy, so it seemed odd when Sherlock realized that he was holding a disposable mobile. 

He strained to hear what the taller one was saying into the phone, but only caught fragments.

_"...taken during...don't know where...was probably…”_

Sherlock's mind raced to come up with an excuse to see who the man was calling. Quickly, an idea formed in his head, and he turned to the detective inspector. 

"Have you interrogated the witnesses yet, George?" 

" _Greg_ , and you don't _interrogate_ the witnesses; you _question_ them." 

"Of course, Gary, whatever you say. May I borrow a phone? I need to make a call." Sherlock asked in a faux polite manner. Lestrade squinted his eyes in suspicion at the sudden respectful behavior, but nonetheless pulled out his phone and handed it to the detective. 

"Do you need me to show you how to open the calling app?" Lestrade asked. 

"I think I can figure it out. Thank you, Gerald." Sherlock replied nonchalantly as he walked away, leaving an irritated DI in his wake. 

His plan was simple enough: pretend to be focused on the mobile, "accidentally" bump into the tall suspect, and attempt to catch a glimpse of a phone number. 

He began tapping the screen with a befuddled expression on his face and, wouldn't you know it, he just happened to coincidentally bump into the tall suspect, knocking the phone out of his hand! (What an odd happenstance!) 

"Oh, terribly sorry!" He apologized, picking up the phone. Almost imperceptibly, he glanced at the screen. He clenched his teeth at the information displayed there. "Sorry about that, have a nice evening." He continued in a slightly darker voice as he called 221B. The phone went to voicemail and he spoke into it quickly. Not even botheri walked back to Watson and Scotland Yard's finest. 

"It's not even that hard of a name! It's Greg, lots of people are named Greg!" He heard Lestrade complain as he approached. 

"John, we're leaving." Sherlock said sternly. 

The doctor saw the hard glint in Holmes' eyes and nodded goodbye to the detectives. 

"Goodbye, Donovan. Gabriel." 

They strode away and heard Lestrade's irritation vocalized yet again. "It's Greg!" 

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~ 

Jim ran frowned as he pulled into the university parking lot. The school had all the makings of a crime scene. Police everywhere, concerned civilians rushing about. Hell, there were even police barricades to maintain space between the crowd and the building. 

Napier had been yapping information into his ear for the past ten minutes, not that Moriarty was registering most of it. The guard's voice seemed strained, and his words were choppy. The only information Napier seemed to be able to get out was that Sabrina had been taken. They didn't recognize the abductor, but he appeared to be from Wales. It wasn't hard to make the connection that the last Welsh-man they pissed off was Adair. 

Moriarty thought of exiting the car to access what had happened, and to hopefully find Sabrina. His notion vanished when he saw a certain private detective walking around with his pet doctor. Jim's eyes followed the pair as they spoke to Lestrade. He watched Sherlock "accidentally" bump into Napier, clearly to see whom the man was talking to. Anyone else would've missed the subtle way the detective's eyes flicked to the screen, and how his jaw tightened slightly. 

When the phone returned to Napier's ear, Moriarty relieved the man of his duty for the night, explaining that he wanted to investigate further by himself. 

Waiting until both the inhabitants of 221B and the guard dogs left, Jim seized his opportunity. Putting on his best "concerned citizen" face, he jogged over to a young officer, one who seemed like he'd never been involved in a case that didn't involve parents worried over their teen missing curfew. 

"Sir, please stay behind the barrier." The cop ordered politely. Jim nodded frantically. 

"I'm the substitute drama teacher, can you tell me what happened? Are the students all right?" 

"I'm afraid not. There's been... a student was... Look, we're not supposed to give out this information." He gave an apologetic, there's-nothing-I-can-do look. 

"Please, I just want to know if the kids are alright." 

The cop sighed, but proceeded to explain that a boy had been killed, and a girl had been taken. It was nothing more than he already knew, but by the end of the tale, Moriarty was thirsting for blood. 

He thanked the cop and marched stiffly back to the car. Once inside, he let out a furious yell. Some _bastard_ took what was his- and Sabrina _was_ his, just as much as he was hers. And this complete moron thought that it'd be a good idea to remove a madman's better half. He could have laughed at the idiocy. No doubt, the man was trying to get back at him. 

Sabrina was just a pawn to the kidnapper; to Jim she was the queen. And not in the romantic, "Gosh, you deserve to be treated like a princess!" way. No, she was a chessboard queen. The most powerful piece- and the piece that required the most care. Having her was an advantage; losing her was an almost certain defeat, and Jim had never cared for the "queen sacrifice" method in chess. 

He shifted the car into drive. The tires squealed angrily as he peeled out of the lot. It was time for the king to wage a war for his queen. 

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~ 

_Splash._

She sputtered awake, water rolling down the sides of her face, and saw an empty bucket being removed from her field of view. Another was picked up and held over her head, and as it tipped she registered the fact that she was horizontal. 

_Splash._

"Knock it the fuck off!" She snapped at the offender, who leaned over her. It was her middle-aged "friend" from before. "Oh, _super_. It's you." 

"How did you enjoy your nap?" 

"Go to hell." 

_Slap._

"I think you would find it beneficial to remember which one of us it tied to a chair.” 

“I think you would find it beneficial to shut the fuck up.” She shot back. He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. 

“Really, I would’ve thought you would be more courteous. Your brother was the perfect gentleman when we met; Except, of course, the small incident of him killing my employer’s sniper.” 

“That’s what this is about? My brother took out one of his guys, so now you’re killing me as some sort of an eye-for-an-eye thing?” 

The man gave her a condescending look, pulling up a chair from behind him and straddling the seat. 

“Took out one of his _ladies_ , actually. His very best sniper. He don’t take kindly to people offing his most effective workers. As for you, we have no intention of killing you; at least not for revenge.” 

“Who exactly is your employer? What am I here for? Hell, who are you?” 

“Do you really think you’re in a position to ask questions?” 

“No, but I’m bored, and I feel like we’re getting close to the ‘villain reveals his evil scheme to the seemingly helpless hero’ portion of the evening. I guess it’s more your employer’s scheme than yours, although I’m sure you’ll get an award for participation.” 

_shutupshutupshutupshutupSHUTUP!_ Her brain screamed at her. She didn’t know where the back-talk was coming from, but she really needed to get a handle on it. This guy didn’t seem to be stingy with his bullets, and she was sure there would be no love lost between him and his employer if she were to die earlier than planned. To her relief, though, he just smirked coldly. 

“You do have quite a tongue on you, don’t you?” He asked, and she bit back the urge to reply that most people were equipped with tongues. 

“I supposed there’s no harm in answering your questions. They’re quick answers, anyway. We can start with why you’re here. It’s a little misogynistic, but we needed you to be our damsel in distress to lure out your brother and your boss. Not to say you can’t hold your own, we’ve seen your work. Hence, they extra precautions,” He motioned to the handcuffs and chains that held her to a metal gurney. “We couldn’t risk tying you up with rope in case you had a knife, or some other sharp object to cut yourself free. Of course, in that costume, there seems to be little room for you to hide anything.” 

Suddenly, she became very aware of how form-fitting her dress was, and how much flesh it displayed. Blood rushed to her face. 

“Don’t worry, Ms. Moran, I’ll behave myself. I have no interest in those matters.” 

“Sexual assault?” She snapped nervously. 

“Sex in general, really. I never took much interest in it. However, that’s a little off topic. To answer your earlier inquiries, my name is Oliver and my boss, who I’m sure you’ve heard of, is Ronald Adair.” 

If he expected a response, he would be disappointed. The young woman controlled her features well, not betraying an ounce of emotion. 

“I can see why you’re an actress.” He remarked approvingly, and she couldn’t help but raise a brow. 

“Is that a compliment?” 

“More of an observation, but feel free to interpret it as you will.” 

She snorted at his words but didn’t reply otherwise. In the silence that followed, she began to really mull over her predicament. With all that thinking came a fresh wave of dread. Christopher was dead. She was bait for Sebastian and Jim, and whomever came along with them. They were walking right into a trap, and she could do nothing but wait for it to be sprung. Like Oliver had said, she couldn’t cut her way out of chains and cuffs. Picking the lock would be impossible seeing as her hands were cuffed underneath the gurney. 

“Are we just going to sit here until Moriarty and Sebastian show up to save me?” she inquired. 

“Basically. When they arrive, you’re going to be moved into a different room. That’s where the main action of the evening will occur. We’re just waiting for a text from the people trailing your would-be rescuers. Once I get that, we’re going to, pardon the pun, roll on down to the main event area.” 

“Are they even close?” 

“They spent a good portion of the evening planning your rescue, but they left their little warehouse 23 minutes ago. They should arrive in-” Oliver checked his watch. “-another four minutes. I suppose I should get you ready.” 

Rummaging through a nearby bag, he pulled out a piece of cloth. Sabrina saw no reason for alarm until he pulled out a roll of silver duct tape. He turned to her with an apologetic smile. 

“So sorry, Ms. Moran, but I’m under orders to have you gagged for the main event,” He obviously wasn’t sorry at all. In fact, he seemed to enjoy the worried look in her eyes. She opened her mouth to protest, but immediately shut it when he began to advance. “Come now, no need to be difficult.” 

She refused to open her mouth. Sighing, he balled up the cloth in his hand and squeezed her nostrils together, cutting off her air supply. Within a minute, she was gasping for air. Oliver seized the opportunity and shoved the fabric into her mouth. With one hand over her mouth, he used his teeth to rip off a strip of tape. Throwing the roll aside, he used his free hand to grab the tape from between his teeth and place it over her mouth. He then went to the head of the gurney and adjusted it so she was almost sitting straight up. 

“Can’t have you choking, can we?” He asked, to which he received a snarky hum in response from the bound woman. He studied her face for a moment. 

“It’s a pity you weren’t wearing waterproof makeup. The water seems to have melted it quite a bit. Normally, Mr. Adair likes his guests to look presentable at the first meeting, but I think we can make an exception seeing as you’re not a usual guest, don’t you think?” 

Sabrina glared at him, hoping that staring long enough would set him on fire. In response, he pulled out a handkerchief and rubbed harshly against her cheeks, attempting to wipe off the black that stained her cheeks. He pulled back, admiring his handiwork. 

“That’s the best I can do. Now you don’t look so much like a raccoon,” Oliver observed. She gave him a look of disbelief. Ignoring her, he checked his phone. He walked over to the door and knocked three times. It swung open to reveal two guards, both of them heavily armed and heavily armored. As they moved in to wheel Sabrina out, Oliver turned around and smirked. 

“It’s showtime, Ms. Moran. Break a leg.” 


End file.
